Make the Earth Resound

A speaker outside St. Michael's Cathedral.

A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who piously recite the Act of Dedication of the Human Race to Jesus Christ King on the feast of our Lord Jesus Christ King:

Most sweet Jesus, Redeemer of the human race, look down upon us humbly prostrate before you. We are yours, and yours we wish to be; but to be more surely united with you, behold each one of us freely consecrates himself today to your Most Sacred Heart. Many indeed have never known you; many, too, despising your precepts, have rejected you. Have mercy on them all, most merciful Jesus, and draw them to your Sacred Heart. Be King, O Lord, not only of the faithful who have never forsaken you, but also of the prodigal children who have abandoned you; grant that they may quickly return to their Father's house, lest they die of wretchedness and hunger. Be King of those who are deceived by erroneous opinions, or whom discord keeps aloof, and call them back to the harbor of truth and the unity of faith, so that soon there may be but one flock and one Shepherd. Grant, O Lord, to your Church assurance of freedom and immunity from harm; give tranquility of order to all nations; make the earth resound from pole to pole with one cry: Praise to the divine Heart that wrought our salvation; to it be glory and honor for ever. Amen.

History and Providence

Historic photo of St. Michael's Cathedral and Metropolitan United.

How plainly visible is Providence in the history of my soul and of my life! It must be the same for all, if one knows how to discern its beneficent action; when I look back, in spite of misfortunes and tears, I can only bless and adore. I begin this new period of life – long or short, calm or sorrowful, according to God’s will – with these words from the depths of my soul: I believe, I adore, I hope. 

            – Servant of God, Elisabeth Leseur

Keepin' It Real

At centre of the window hangs the galero which was conferred by Pope Pius XII on His Eminence, James Charles McGuigan in 1946.

On 23 June, 1273, Bonaventure was created Cardinal by Gregory X. The pope’s envoys who brought him his galero found the saint washing dishes outside the convent and were requested by him to hang it on a tree nearby until his hands were free to take it.

The Flowers of My Desires and Good Will

A detail of a mosaic from the Lady altar in St. Michael's Cathedral.

If it is Your will that throughout my whole life, I would feel a repugnance to suffering and humiliation, or [if it is your will to] permit all the flowers of my desires and good will to fall to the ground without producing any fruit, I shall not be disturbed. In the twinkling of an eye, at the moment of death, You will cause rich fruits to ripen on the tree of my soul. 

               - St. Therese of the Child Jesus

Daily Mass

Parishioners leaving St. Michael's Cathedral after Mass.

But the chief aim of our efforts must be that the frequent reception of the Eucharist may be everywhere revived among Catholic peoples. . . For the soul, like the body, needs frequent nourishment; and the Holy Eucharist provides that food which is best adapted to the support of its life. 

               – St. Pius X

Garbage

A garbage can in the front courtyard of St. Michael's Cathedral.

One hears an awful lot of blasphemous garbage these days, on the subway, on tv, in casual conversation... What to do?

Make a little cell in your heart for Jesus of the Agony; take refuge there, when you hear Him outraged by men, try to make reparation; you, at least, love Him and keep your heart quite pure for Him. Oh! If you only knew how the good God loves pure hearts! It is there that He loves to reign. 

          – Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity

The Pinnacle of Love

The architects' drawings for the completion of the pinnacles of St. Michael's Cathedral, dated December 28th, 1865.  credit

We see the free will of Christ Who in obedience to the will of the Father offered Himself for love. It is in this obedience to the Father that Jesus fulfils His own freedom, as an informed choice motivated by love...It may seem a paradox, but the high point of the Lord's freedom was on the cross: the pinnacle of love. On Calvary they cried: 'If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!' Yet He demonstrated His freedom...by remaining on that scaffold to fulfill the Father's merciful will. 

                  – Pope Benedict XVI

Catholic Lily

The fleur de lis on the wall of the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral. As a Christian symbol, the fleur de lis is associated strongly with Mary, purity, and chastity.

I would that the whole world knew you and acknowledged you as being that beautiful Dawn which was always illumined with divine light; as that chosen Ark of salvation, free from the common shipwreck of sin; that perfect and immaculate Dove which your divine Spouse declared you to be...and finally, as that white Lily, which you are...

                    – St. Alphonsus Liguori to Mary

Feast of St. Luke

A window of St. Michael's Cathedral through which the dawn light streams at morning Mass.

In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us. To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace. 

                          – Luke 1:78-9

The Most Holy Trinity

A quaint trefoil window in the old sacristy of St. Michael's Cathedral.  The trefoil is a common symbol of the Trinity.

O eternal Trinity, You are a deep sea in which the more I seek the more I find, and the more I find, the more I seek to know You. You fill us insatiably, because the soul, before the abyss which You are, is always famished; and hungering for You, O eternal Trinity, it desires to behold truth in Your light. As the thirsty heart pants after the fount of living water, so does my soul long to leave this gloomy body and see You as You are, in truth. 

               - St. Catherine of Siena

Feast of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

A statue of Our Lord and His Divine Heart in St. John's Chapel at St. Michael's Cathedral.

The Divine Heart is an ocean full of all good things, wherein poor souls can cast all their needs; it is an ocean full of joy to drown all our sadness, an ocean of humility to drown our folly, an ocean of mercy to those in distress, an ocean of love in which to submerge our poverty.

                    - St. Margaret Mary Alacoque

Our Only Hope

An altar cross from 1858 in the sacristy of St. Michael's Cathedral.

O Crux ave, spes unica...piis adauge gratiam...

The Ugliness of Sin

A delightfully ugly little gargoyle on the side of St. Michael's Cathedral.

My soul will grind under the weight of its infidelities towards the Author of life. I know that no one is clean before the Lord, but my uncleanness has no limits in front of Him. In the present state in which the merciful God, in His wisdom and justice, is deigning to lift the veil and manifest to me the hidden faults, in all their maliciousness and ugliness, I see myself so deformed that my very same vestments seem to me to have the horror of my filth. 

                  – St. Padre Pio

Angels

An angel moves the sun in the mural at the Lady altar at St. Michael's Cathedral.

Let us affectionately love His angels as counselors and defenders appointed by the Father and placed over us. They are faithful; they are prudent; they are powerful; Let us only follow them, let us remain close to them, and in the protection of the God of Heaven let us abide. 

                       - St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Getting to Mass

A parishioner's bicycle outside St. Michael's Cathedral.

Blessed Charles the Good (d. 1127) used to walk to Mass barefoot every day as a penance; So did St. Hedwig (d. 1243) and through the snow!  Get to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Dear Hearts, however you get there.  It’s the joyful obligation of every Catholic under canon law.

Drop by Drop

Detail of a chalice at St. Michael's Cathedral.  photo credit

How is it that we do not die of love in seeing that God Himself could do no more than shed His divine blood for us drop by drop? When as man He was preparing for death, He made Himself our food in order to give us life. God becomes food, bread for his creatures. Is this not enough to make us die of love? 

             – St. Teresa (Juanita) de los Andes

Bishops: Supreme Among Men

The mitre of the late Emmet Cardinal Carter.  photo credit

But, dear reader, I reply with Saint Denis that the task of leading souls towards perfection appertains above all others to Bishops, and that because their Order is supreme among men, as the Seraphim among Angels,  therefore their leisure cannot be better spent. 

                          – St. Francis de Sales

Mother Mary: An Abiding Anchor

An anchor in a stained glass window in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

We fasten our souls to Your hope, as to an abiding anchor. It is to Her that the saints who have saved themselves have been the most attached and have done their best to attach others, in order to persevere in virtue. Happy, then, a thousand times happy, are the Christians who are now fastened faithfully and entirely to Her, as to a firm anchor! 

                       – St. Louis Marie de Montfort

The Stormy World

Storm clouds gathering behind St. Michael's Cathedral.

Rejoice, my dearest brothers, because you are blessed and because of the bountiful hand of God's grace upon you. Rejoice, because you have escaped the various dangers and shipwrecks of the stormy world. Rejoice because you have reached the quiet and safe anchorage of a secret harbor. Many wish to come into this port, and many make great efforts to do so, yet do not achieve it. Indeed many, after reaching it, have been thrust out, since it was not granted them from above. By your work you show what you love and what you know. When you observe true obedience with prudence and enthusiasm, it is clear that you wisely pick the most delightful and nourishing fruit of divine Scripture. 

                        – St. Bruno to Carthusians

Inflamed

A burning candle hangs before the Marian shrine in St. Michael's Cathedral.

 My Lord Jesus Christ, I pray You to grant me two graces before I die: the first is that during my life I may feel in my soul and in my body, as much as possible, that pain which You, dear Jesus, sustained in the hour of Your most bitter Passion. The second is that I may feel in my heart, as much as possible, that excessive love with which You, O Son of God, were inflamed in willingly enduring such suffering for us sinners.  – St. Francis of Assisi

On Repentance

A print of Rembrandt's Prodigal Son hangs in the hall on the way from the Sanctuary to the Sacristy in St. Michael's Cathedral.

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants. - Luke 15:18-19.

The very best that can be said of the fallen and redeemed race of Adam is, that they confess their fall, and condemn themselves for it, and try to recover themselves. And this state of mind, which is in fact the only possible religion left to sinners, is represented to us in the parable of the Prodigal Son, who is described as receiving, then abusing, and then losing God's blessings, suffering from their loss, and brought to himself by the experience of suffering. A poor service indeed to offer, but the best we can offer, to make obedience our second choice when the world deserts us, when that is dead and lost to us wherein we were held!   – Bl. John Henry Newman

Obedience to Bishops

The likeness of Archbishop Denis T. O'Conner C.S.B. (1841-1908) hangs in the Sacristy of St. Michael's Cathedral.

Bishops are the successors of the apostles and are owed obedience (CCC 861-2). Want to stick it to the Devil? 

The Devil doesn’t fear austerity but holy obedience.
  – St. Francis de Sales

The Reality of Death

The grave of Eliza Boulton, wife of Henry John Boulton, in the crypt of St. Michael's Cathedral.

St. Jerome used to visit the catacombs weekly to remind himself of the reality of death:

Often I would find myself entering those crypts, deep dug in the earth, with their walls on either side lined with the bodies of the dead, where everything was so dark that almost it seemed as though the Psalmist’s words were fulfilled, “Let them go down quick into Hell”. Here and there the light, not entering in through windows, but filtering down from above through shafts, relieved the horror of the darkness. But again, as soon as you found yourself cautiously moving forward, the black night closed around and there came to my mind the line of Vergil, “Horror unique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent”.  

An Endorsement

Statue of St. Joseph and infant Jesus in St. John's Chapel at St. Michael's Cathedral.

I do not remember that I ever asked St. Joseph at any time for anything which he did not obtain for me.  – St. Teresa of Avila

Sacred Heart

Jesus reveals his Sacred Heart to St. Margaret Mary in a stained glass window at St. Michael's Cathedral.

Behold this Heart which has so loved man.

 - Our Lord to St. Margaret Mary

The Gates

The bars of a gate at St. Michael's Cathedral.

The gates of Heaven are open for all creatures (who repent). 

Remember Mary Magdalene.  

 – St. Padre Pio

Red Mass

The Red Mass is held today in St. Michael's Cathedral.

I die the King’s faithful servant, but God’s first. – St. Thomas More's last words before his execution.

St. Thomas More, you heavenly patron of statesmen and lawyers, pray for us.

The Fire

Fire alarm in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral.

After communion if you do not feel some spiritual nourishment, this is a sign of spiritual infirmity or spiritual death. The fire has been put in your breast, but you have not felt the heat. The honey has been placed in your mouth, but you have not tasted the sweetness.

But if you do feel some consolation, it is no credit to you, but to His immense goodness, which reaches out to the bad and consoles the ungrateful, and so you say in your heart: I have detested your mercy and cursed your gifts. If God has done such good to me, a sinner, what would He do, if I were to correct my life? Thus of all people I want to change myself and come close to You forever.  

                                       – St. Bonaventure

Darkness

St. Michael's Cathedral in crepuscular light.

Lord my God, You who have formed and reformed me, tell my desiring soul what You are besides what it has seen so that it may see clearly that which it desires. It strives so that it may see more, and it sees nothing beyond what it has seen save darkness. Or rather it does not see darkness, which is not in You in any way; but it sees that it cannot see more because of its own darkness. Why is this, Lord, why is this? Is its eye darkened by its weakness, or is it dazzled by Your splendour? In truth it is both darkened in itself and dazzled by You.

                                     - St. Anselm

Origen on Baptism

A scallop shell (a common symbol of our Christian baptism) in the moulding in St. John's Chapel at St. Michael's Cathedral.

If you transgress, you write unto yourself the handwriting of sin. But, behold, when you have once approached to the cross of Christ and to the grace of baptism, your handwriting is affixed to the cross and blotted out in the font of baptism.  

                         - Origen

St. Paul on the Love of God

Statue of St. Paul in St. Michael's Cathedral.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.   

                           – Romans 8:38-9

Treasures

A squirrel enjoys a nut in the side garden of St. Michael's Cathedral.

Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  

                           – Luke 12:33-4

Motherhood and Cathedrals

smart-mouthed photo source : )

A mother is the most important person on earth. She cannot claim the honor of having built Notre Dame Cathedral. She need not. She has built something more magnificent than any Cathedral – a dwelling for an immortal soul, the tiny perfection of her baby’s body. 

                 – Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty

    

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

A processional cross at St. Michael's Cathedral.  photo credit

O Crux, splendidior cunctis astris, mundo celebris, hominibus multum amabilis, sanctior universis: quae sola fuisti digna portare talentum mundi, dulce lignum, dulces clavos, dulcia ferens pondera!

St. John Chrysostom on Chit-Chat in the Church

The altar of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Michael's Cathedral with the Tabernacle lamp hanging in front.

When you are before the altar where Christ reposes, you ought no longer to think that you are amongst men; but believe that there are troops of angels and archangels standing by you, and trembling with respect before the sovereign Master of Heaven and earth. Therefore, when you are in church, be there in silence, fear, and veneration. 

                - St. John Chrysostom

Flowering of the Soul

A planter outside St. Michael's Cathedral in bloom.  Face of St. Edwin of Northumbria visible in background.

The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against self.  There is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain.           

                          – St. Padre Pio

A Thought for September 11th

A marker for the Murray family burials in the basement crypt of St. Michael's Cathedral.

If we knew at what time we were to depart from this world, we would be able to select a season for pleasure and another for repentance. But God, who has promised pardon to every repentant sinner, has not promised us tomorrow. Therefore we must always dread the final day, which we can never foresee. This very day is a day of truce, a day for conversion. 

                               – St. Gregory the Great

Proverbs 22:6

The junior boys' choir from the nearby St. Michael's Choir School.

Give me a boy until the age of seven and I shall show you the man.  

                         – St. Francis Xavier

Send your son to learn Gregorian chant and Catholic manhood in a school affiliated with the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome.  Then just sit back in your pew and swell with pride when he sings with the angels at Holy Mass in St. Michael's Cathedral.

The Price

A cash register in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral is used for the sale of religious items for restoration of the organ.

Servant of God Elisabeth Leseur married a non-practicing Catholic (Felix Leseur) who became increasingly hostile to her Catholicism. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1912 she told her husband:

I am absolutely certain that when you return to God, you will not stop on the way because you never do things by halves…You will someday become a priest.

To this he responded: “Elizabeth, you know my sentiments. I’ve sworn hatred of God, I shall live in that hatred and I shall die in it.”  After she died in 1914, her husband discovered a note written to him among her papers:

In 1905, I asked Almighty God to send me sufficient sufferings to purchase your soul. On the day that I die, the price will have been paid. Greater love than this no woman has than she who lay down her life for her husband.

In 1923, at the age of 62, Felix Leseur was ordained a priest.

An Urgent Reminder

Statue of Mary and Jesus in a niche at the Lady altar in St. Michael's Cathedral.

It’s your mother’s birthday.

Nativitas gloriosæ Virginis Mariæ ex semine Abrahæ, ortæ de tribu Juda, clara ex stirpe David. Nativitas est hodie sanctæ Mariæ Virginis, cujus vita inclyta cunctas illustrat ecclesias.

Him Who Is the Light

A charming decorative light fixture in the tiny narthex of St. John's Chapel at St. Michael's Cathedral.

Our lives must be woven around the Eucharist … fix your eyes on Him Who is the light; bring your hearts close to His Divine Heart; ask Him to grant you the grace of knowing Him, the love of loving Him, the courage to serve Him. Seek Him fervently. 

                  – Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Admirable Heights

A dormer window at St. Michael's Cathedral adds height and light.

O admirable heights and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under the little form of bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him! Humble yourselves, as well, that you may be exalted by Him. Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves so that He Who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally...

                               – St. Francis of Assisi

Suffering

A set of crutches leans against  a column in the nave of St. Michael's Cathedral.

From here on earth, love cannot live without suffering. It is through loving the cross that we discover His Heart, for divine Love never lives without suffering. I want my whole life to be inspired by love. He who loves, does all things easily, or, if he suffers, he suffers bravely. Why is suffering necessary? Because on earth, pure love cannot exist without suffering. O Jesus, Jesus, I no longer feel my cross when I think of yours! 

          - St. Bernadette Soubirous

Cup of Salvation

Detail of chalice at St. Michael's Cathedral.  photo credit

Blood of Christ, Eucharistic drink and refreshment of souls, save us.

Blood of Christ, stream of mercy, save us.

The Duty of the Moment

A garbage can in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral has been shined like new by some dutiful person.

The duty of the moment is what you should be doing at any given time, in whatever place God has put you...There are all kinds of good Catholic things you can do, but whatever they are, you have to realize that there is always the duty of the moment to be done. And it must be done, because the duty of the moment is the duty of God.  

             – Servant of God Catherine Doherty 

The Door We Have to Pass Through

A door at St. Michael's Cathedral.

Humble yourselves...We cannot pass through the low door with our head held high unless we want to crack it.  And the door we have to pass through is Christ crucified, who humbled Himself down to the level of us witless fools.       

                 – St. Catherine of Siena


By the by, Dear Hearts, I am back from Rome.

How to Bring Souls to God and His Church

St. Michael's Cathedral reaches up toward heaven.

Pray and weep for their conversion like St. Monica because...

Nothing is far from God. – Saint Monica

Students

A poster in the narthex of St. Michael's Cathedral reminds Catholic Ryerson students about the upcoming Annual Mass and BBQ at St. John's Chapel.

Do you wish to study to your advantage?
Let devotion accompany all your studies.
Consult God more than your books.
Ask Him to make you understand what you read.
Never begin or end your study except by prayer.
Science is a gift of God.
Do not consider it merely the work of your own mind and effort. 

                          – St. Vincent Ferrer, OP

For Frequent Use

Holy water in the sacristy of St. Michael's Cathedral.

I know by frequent experience that there 

is nothing which puts the devils to flight like Holy water. 

– St. Teresa of Avila